Mom was Right
by aGreatPenName
Summary: She realized with her mother's advice that the love she deserved could only be found in a man who wasn't ashamed to say "I love you". KagomexKouga
1. Enough

**Title: Mom was Right**

**Chapter 1: Enough**

**Rating: T**

**Status: In progress**

**Disclaimer: I claim the plot. Nothing more. **

**Summary: She realized with her mother's advice that the love she deserved could only be found in a man who wasn't ashamed to say "I love you". KagomexKouga**

**Inspiration: Recently realizing there's a growing trend in the fanfic world to accept and promote that it's ok for significant others to not say "I love you". I find that to be a boatload of malarkey. **

Her mother had always told her "Never stay with a man who can't say I love you".

And Kagome understood what she meant. A man who was afraid to show love wasn't particularly dependable. In fact such a man would put himself and his desires before his significant other. And if you fell for a guy like that... well it would only lead to heartbreak.

That's why she wasn't worried when she was with Inuyasha. He always showed her he loved her. He protected her from so many near death experiences.

Sure he was gruff.

And lousy with words.

But he was always there to protect her from all the dangers in the world. And through the years he showed he was dependable.

Granted they had their problems. Kikyo of course, was their biggest.

But after thinking about it she could finally understand it. Kikyo was his first love. She was the first person to really care for him after having lived a life full of strife and callousness.

And Kagome, she was too young and ... too harsh before to fully realize the depth of their bond from the past.

Yea, she was brash too. But that was ok, because she understood now. She needed to grow to accept that Kikyo was a large part of who Inuyasha was, no _is_.

Right. She had to accept that. Because that's what it means to grow up right? To accept their past fully. And to be understanding towards the one she loves. That's love right? Unconditional?

Yea, unconditional. That's right.

Completely.

And so when Inuyasha would slip, and do something completely idiotic, like follow Kikyo. And then their circumstances would become all too dangerous all too fast because of his association with his past it would still be alright. Because she loved him. And she surely had done some pretty stupid things too right?

Yea. Some really dumb things. Things she had never considered would be dangerous ended up being extremely dangerous. And sure you could argue that she hadn't known any better, but still she felt like that was no excuse. She just needed to grow up for him. That way she wouldn't be such a burden.

Right?

So she continued to force herself to grow up for him. And he protected her. Doing things for each other like that, that was a sign of love right?

But no matter how hard she tried, it still didn't sit right with her when he sometimes went off to see _her_. Then never tell her what he and _she_ had been doing.

So she would go back home and try to calm herself down while he was gone. There she would be able to regroup. And she'd talk to her mom about how _great_ and _wonderful_ things were. And that she felt like she was finally learning what it was to love. Because trying hard was worth it, because _he_ was worth it. And she knew how hard her mom worked on the shrine to keep her father's work alive even though he was not. It was a labor worthwhile because it was for love.

Love was an arduous task. That's what she learned from her mom. So she should never give up on it. Because loving Inuyasha was worthwhile.

Really. It was.

Her mother would smile slightly in response saying "Love is showing that you really care about each other. And that you're both willing to work for your love _together_".

And she'd found solace in her mother's words.

Both she and Inuyasha did work to show each other they cared. She'd always made sure to put Inuyasha first when she had the chance. If he was badly hurt after a particular battle she would be right there to help him regain his strength and would make as much ramen as it would take to see that smile make it over his face. And even if he was perfectly healthy she would go out of her way to try and make him happy.

She'd learned to even look at life through his eyes. She'd learned to read what he really meant when he'd only mumble out an assortment of words and phrases that weren't entirely coherent. Because she knew he meant well. He really did.

Really.

And he... he would take care of her when she needed it the most. Those times when she was very badly hurt showed that he cared. He'd hover to make sure she'd pull through. It was at those times that she knew he cared. If he didn't care why else would he stay by her like that?

Surely he did...

And every time they argued, which they did quite often, she began to feel more and more guilty. She had to have overlooked what he meant. And that wouldn't do because she should know by now what he meant. Her anger only came from their miscommunication. And it was obvious that she was missing the mark.

After some particularly harsh words were shared between the two, _again_, she would home.

Her brother would be downtrodden when he'd find her at home only because she got into an argument. He'd offer to play some video games with her or watch a movie, but she was never in the mood. And she would decline, promising "Next time Souta, next time".

Her mother would do whatever she could to help put her daughter's mind at ease. Sure she pushed the academics as well, but hey, she was her mother. It was her job to push the schoolwork. So after doing some hours of piled up homework her mother would bring her some freshly brewed tea and tell her with a knowing look that "Love was a difficult thing to find. Never mind being able to understand it. And when you did manage to find it, it would be in the place you least expected."

And so Kagome took that to heart.

Love was hard to find. But it was there. In the most unexpected things.

And she would see it, in Inyuasha's eyes when he would help save a village from a demon even after avidly rejecting the very notion of doing so. Clearly he did it because of his love for her.

Clearly.

And so for Kagome it was enough. It was enough to know he loved her. Because clearly he did when he saved her life as much as he had. And clearly because he took care of her when she was hurt or ill.

He never actually said he loved her. But she _knew_ he did. And that made up for it. And that was enough for her.

Except the funny thing was...

it wasn't enough.

**A/N: Kouga is in the next chapter**

**And this story **_**will**_** be finished unlike all my others because all the chapters are already written! Le gasp! Granted they're not edited yet but they are written! **


	2. Love

**Title: Mom was Right**

**Chapter 2: Love**

**Rating: T**

**Status: In progress**

**Disclaimer: I claim the plot. Nothing more. **

**Summary: She realized with her mother's advice that the love she deserved could only be found in a man who wasn't ashamed to say "I love you". KagomexKouga**

**Inspiration: Recently realizing there's a growing trend in the fanfic world to accept and promote that it's ok for significant others to not say "I love you". I find that to be a boatload of malarkey. **

… … … …**.**

When she watched Rin running around the field collecting wild flowers for her Sesshomaru-sama, Kagome confirmed to herself with a self depreciating smile that… she was right.

And that Inuyasha was _wrong._

Wrong for _her._

She had been struggling day in and day out for _years_ to understand him. She had desperately sought his approval by forgoing her needs and placing his ahead of everything else. Hoping, praying, and _wishing_ that he would recognize her contributions, her self-improvements.

Honest acknowledgement was all she wanted, for him to accept her _without_ his biting sarcasm. And she had worked so hard that she had forgotten what it was like to be _at ease and happy _with him.

And it _stung. _

Knowing this didn't make her feel any better.

If anything it made her heart ache even more.

Because how _stupid _had she been to not realize this before?

Breathing in the crisp and fragrant air was agonizing. Because as she watched Rin _joyously_ collecting those ridiculously bright flowers, she saw how that little girl knew without a doubt that Sesshomaru would accept her small gift.

_Kami! _

Sesshomaru, _Sesshomaru _of all the stoic, terrifying, and imposing demons, could accept a bouquet of flowers from a gap toothed giggling little human girl and yet his supposedly over emotional and too foolish of a _half- _brother would vehemently avoid her and her earnest labors of love?

What kind of new screwed up world did she live in _now_?

Somberly she stared at her hands remembering the few times they were in Inuyasha's own. She had truly treasured those moments even if they only happened because of a particularly scarring near death experience. Because when they did hold hands, it was like they were making sure they were still alive and _there_ right beside the each other.

And those moments were exceptionally beautiful because that was like a declaration of their attachment to each other.

However as she watched the Taiyoukai pat the girl on the head before taking hold of that dreadfully put together bunch of flowers she _cringed_. That was the type of muted, comforting, and continuously evolving show of love that she had never experienced.

Yet that little girl had _expected_ his gesture of fondness as if it were commonplace.

And he, that terrifying demon, knew what she wanted _automatically_. And he complied with her simple wish of affection with little preamble in a practiced ease.

_They_ had a _routine_.

_Together_, just like her mother had always said, they could _depend_ on each other to act a certain way. They could act comfortably with each other because of this perpetual habit. And they had absolute _trust_ in it. Enough so they knew they wouldn't be let down.

As she stared back down at her hands Kagome realized that the only time she had complete trust in Inuyasha was in knowing that he would keep her _alive_.

Of course that was significant in itself. He wouldn't just leave her for _dead_.

But still…there were no small bouts of affection she could count on happening without fail.

She couldn't rely on him to put her mind at ease. More often than not he would avoid her at all costs when she was upset.

And he rarely sought her out himself. Even after they fought and he was clearly in the wrong she was never sure if he'd apologize or not. Did that mean he always expected her to go _crawling_ back to him? Or did he just seek her out when it was _convenient to him?_ Either way, it was upsetting.

There was nothing but _uncertainty_.

_His _constant uncertainty.

He never made it a habit to indicate through small gestures to show some reassurances of his own. And when he did, he never did it with ease. He would make a big awkward and horribly upsetting predicament of it.

Being with him was _uncomfortable._

Constantly tip toeing around him was nerve wracking. And stupidly, so _stupidly_, she had written it off as him just being socially inept and unused to kind gestures.

But they had known each other for _years_. And he should know better. And yet he _didn't_.

He didn't accept her when he didn't accept her actions.

Her care.

Her words.

Or her _love._

How pathetic was it that she had just realized this _now_? Had she been forcing her feelings on him this whole time?

Was it stupid of her to be comparing Inuyasha to his supposedly emotionally stunted brother? Was it worse that she _still _found him to be lacking?

And how _wretched _was it to realize that everything she had once absolutely _known _to be true about love was completely _wrong_?

Bitterly she could see it now.

The small tilt of Sesshomaru's lips in regards to his ward as she beamed back at him.

_That. _

That was love. Trusting body and _soul_ to another.

Kami.

That little girl was bursting with exuberance. She couldn't even recall the last time she felt something like _that..._

Her hands shook as her heart plummeted into the pit of her stomach.

_Love_.

It sounded like a dirty word. 

… … … …

**A/N: Decided that I'm going with the short chapter format. No fear. That means there will just be a lot more chapters! Also, I know, I promised Kouga this chapter. But I don't want this to be let's **_**rush to the mush! **_**So to put him for the sake of it would have been negligent on my part.**__**Next chapter will be up in a day. I'm not cruel enough to promise Kouga then just not deliver. Much love for all my readers! **


	3. Thanks

**Title: Mom was Right**

**Chapter 3: Thanks **

**Rating: T**

**Status: In progress**

**Disclaimer: I claim the plot. Nothing more. **

**Summary: She realized with her mother's advice that the love she deserved could only be found in a man who wasn't ashamed to say "I love you". KagomexKouga**

**Inspiration: Recently realizing there's a growing trend in the fanfic world to accept and promote that it's ok for significant others to not say "I love you". I find that to be a boatload of malarkey. **

… … … …

_He_ showed up at a worse time.

Inuyasha had been harassing her because she had watched Rin for his brother.

Sorry, _half- brother_.

It was then that the hanyou said everything she expected he would.

"Idiot! How stupid could you be? Why bother to help that bastard? He tired to kill you! And you know you couldn't have done anything right if something had happened anyway!"

Had it been any other day she would have reamed him out. She would have told him how unbelievable he was acting. How ridiculously _paranoid_ he was.

And that was the problem. It _wasn't_ any othe_r_ day.

Today was the day she had watched Rin.

Today was the deplorable day she realized her assessments of love were _completely_ off.

And being called a moron by another out loud, after she had been thinking the exact same thing all day, was another stab to her deteriorating pride.

Especially because this… verbal lashing was what they _did_. _This_ was their atrociously hurtful everyday normal.

Putting each other down.

She felt sick to her stomach. Her mother would be _ashamed_ of her. She had raised her better than to be so callous.

When his amber eyes blinked in surprise at her lack of reaction his next move was cut short when out of nowhere _Kouga_ had landed on top of him. And Inuyasha was flattened face first onto the ground. Boisterously Kouga had voiced "Kagome, my love-"but had stopped when the smell of salty water permeated the miko's being.

His blue eyes widened in horror.

She was pale.

Trembling_._

And _crying_.

A panicked " Kagome… are you alri-"was all he got out before the flattened Inuyasha threw the wolf off himself.

And unsurprisingly the two canines broke out into a fight.

The "What have you done to Kagome?" was traded with an "I didn't do anything!" which only brought out the "You made her _cry_!"

And that was the crux of the problem wasn't it? Inuyasha never did _anything._ And then she would _cry._

But what really drove the nail in so maliciously was the "Arrrgh! She cries all the time! It's _no_ big deal!"

…

It was…

It was _devastating to_ hear that he could care so _little _about her.

Had she not been so stunned while she walked away she would have seen the look of aghast mirrored in all of the faces of her friends, Kouga included.

… … … …

Some two hours after she had stormed off into the woods and found sanction sitting on a rotting tree log, he sat down next to her.

By that time she had numbed herself over. She had cried. She had yelled. And she had kicked trees, bushes, rocks, and flowers, _especially _those damnably bright flowers. Her anger had consumed her and left her exhausted, which was good.

She couldn't have dealt with Kouga otherwise. He was like Inuyasha, mostly because he was exasperating and partly because he was blunt. Too blunt. If she hadn't been at the bottom of her barrel she would have ferociously demanded for him to leave her alone.

And yet, because she felt that cold tingle of nothing as he sat next to her, she knew she could at least tolerate whatever he said or did.

So when he rubbed the back of his neck for a few seconds before he told her with an earnest frown that "I wish I could have done more for you than give him two black eyes" she unexpectedly felt her breath huff out in a half sob- half chuckle.

Was it terrible of her to feel avenged?

And _happily so_ at that?

Her bottom lip quivered and her eyes welled. How disturbing was it that she could feel that acidic and forlorn _smile_ on her face?

Then her tension amplified as she folded into herself, cradling her head in both hands while releasing a few more half sobs- half laughs.

What a _spiteful_ person she was. Deriving this sick feeling of _pleasure_ from Inuyasha's pain.

Breathe.

She needed to _breathe._

That was a bad train of thought.

She had to focus on her rickety breathes. She had to focus on anything really, to stop her thoughts.

After a few minutes as her breathing became less ragged and she distracted herself further away from her thoughts to regard Kouga. And she saw through her fringe of hair that he seemed to be watching her warily.

That shouldn't be all that surprising though. She did spontaneously burst into tears on him...

Further she watched his blue eyes pinched with unease. His arm tensed as his hand hesitantly moved towards her bent elbow but just as he was nigh an inch away from touching her he stopped himself.

A strange sense of gratitude filled her.

She knew he was a forward guy and seeing him restraining himself for her sake was welcomed.

"Thanks" she garbled out with a muted smile to him.

And she meant it. For Inuyasha's black eyes and for _not_ touching her.

Wide blue eyes blinked thrice.

Then his apprehension towards her visibly dissolved as he smiled slightly and slouched more comfortably in his spot next to her.

He rubbed the back of his neck again in a sign of awkwardness.

"Yea. No problem."

… … … …


	4. Knowing

**Title: Mom was Right**

**Chapter 4: Knowing**

**Rating: T**

**Status: In progress**

**Disclaimer: I claim the plot. Nothing more. **

**Summary: She realized with her mother's advice that the love she deserved could only be found in a man who wasn't ashamed to say "I love you". KagomexKouga**

**Inspiration: Recently realizing there's a growing trend in the fanfic world to accept and promote that it's ok for significant others to not say "I love you". I find that to be a boatload of malarkey. **

**A/N: Ugh sorry about the lack of updates. I had jaw surgery. Now I need knee surgery. OTL … life… **

Whether by demon or human, being kidnapped was always horrible.

The threats, harm, and verbal abuse were constants. Let's not even mention the mortifying bathroom breaks she was subjected to either.

But if she had to chose, she would rather get kidnapped by a demon. It may sound ridiculous, especially coming from a human, but she found that demons were more honorable in their means of detainment. For example, Hiten and Manten were bat shit crazy, scary, and wanted to make her into a hair potion but they didn't want to _rape_ her.

She being a human female wasn't desirable to male demons.

Well, _most _of the time she wasn't.

She liked those odds a hell of a lot better than her odds with the human race.

And of course, karma just _loves_ her. _So gosh darn much_ that it actually decided to throw her in the arms of human kidnappers.

At least if a demon was thrown her way she could use her ability as a priestess to give her some leverage. Hell! These days she could even purify most demons that even attempted to spirit her away.

But tie her up with common everyday rope and she was sunk.

So, sooo _sunk_…

The look of vicious depravity in their eyes, the way they grinned salaciously at her, licked their lips, and gestured towards her -Oh Kami…

She felt the acidic burn of bile in the back of her throat as her stomach clenched.

Why?

_Why _couldn't they have been demons?

Seeing two men advance upon her bound and seated position, she remembered briefly her mother telling her "If you want to make it, sometimes you got to fake it."

"H-hey!" she bolstered as best she could, "I'm a priestess you know! You'll be cursed and damned for eternity if you came any closer!"

Hungry eyes turned menacing.

She also remembered as her breathing became tight and painful, that her mother always did yell at her for digging herself deeper into holes at the worse times…

Violently her hair was yanked and she was forced to look at the face of the leader. And what made this experience all the worse was that he _wasn't even ugly. _It was always, always, _always,_ the pretty ones that worried her out the most. This guy with his soft green eyes especially made the little hairs on the back of her neck stand up on edge.

"You're a mighty pretty little thing." he said as he leered down at her. Cupping her tear stained face he whispered "I just might keep you for myself."

After he took hold of her arms and bodily dragged her up onto her bound feet, a katana was thrust up to its' red hilt through his neck.

Blood splattered.

Kagome stared bewildered.

There was a rush of wind, a scream, and another splatter of blood. _Thank Kami!_ It had to be Sango. Only she could wield a weapon like that. Quickly her eyes darted around the camp to find the rest of her friends but instead she found… Kouga_?_

_He_ did that?

And when she finally got a good look at him between his appearances and disappearances as he went from one kidnapper to the next she was rooted to her spot.

Not because of the blood.

And neither was it because of the screams of terror surrounding her.

But because of _Kouga,_ and the way he was ferociously tearing the men apart, _limb from limb_.

He struck one man down from behind with a slash of his claws and then flickered with his speed to another to tear into his neck with his hands and wrench _effectively._ Blood leeched down to his elbows as he flicked over to another man running for his life.

This-

This was so UN-_him_ like.

And yet, the sharp glint in his eye was… was so similar to the way he looked when they first met….

No.

_No!_ He wasn't like that, _this_, anymore. He'd _changed._

And yet… there was blood _everywhere._

Body parts _everywhere._

Who was this?

This _wasn't_ the Kouga she knew.

The Kouga she knew blushed when he gave her a handful of wildflowers.

The_ Kouga she knew_ would have just whisked her up and ran away from this area fast. _Real _fast. Thereby he'd avoid this all together.

That was who _he_ was.

She stilled when she saw him survey the area with cold eyes. Making sure every single one of them was _dead._ And then she faltered when their eyes came in contact. Her surprise caused her _still_ tightly bound feet to pitch her to the side.

A swift breeze and set of hands steadied her.

Suddenly she shook. She relived it all, men stealing her. Grabbing her. Reaching for her. Men wishing to brutalize her. Men desiring to desecrate her. It swirled violently to Kouga ripping the head off of one of the men. Biting into the neck of another and bursting an artery. Blood. Arms. Legs. Heads. _Blood._ Everywhere.

"Kagome?"

She jumped startled and looked up at his blood splattered face. She saw and felt the blood on his hands as one held her steady while the other ripped the rope off her wrists.

"I got here I in time right?"

Wide, and bleary eyed she shuddered again.

"… Y-yes."

The intense look of relief on his face brought back the Kouga _she knew_.

And while he hugged her tenderly she felt uncomfortably aware of his hands _slicked with blood_ radiating warmth on her back.

This…

This was _not_ the Kouga she knew.

And she felt another piece of her heart shatter and _plummet._

Kami, why couldn't things be the way they were supposed to be?

And why, _why_ did she feel like she had just lost something?

… … … …


End file.
